Let the People Sing (film)
| Let the People Sing | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Original British lobby card | |
| Directed by | John Baxter |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | James Wilson |
| Edited by | Jack Harris |
| Music by | Kennedy Russell |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Anglo-American Film Corporation |
Release date |
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Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Let the People Sing is a 1942 British comedy film directed by John Baxter,[1] and starring Alastair Sim, Fred Emney and Edward Rigby. The film's sets were designed by R. Holmes Paul. It was made at Elstree Studios.[2]
The screenplay concerns the people of a small town who band together to try to save their music hall from closure. It is based on the 1939 novel Let the People Sing by J. B. Priestley.[3]
Main cast
- Alastair Sim as Professor Ernst Kronak
- Fred Emney as Sir George Denberry-Baxter
- Edward Rigby as Timmy Tiverton
- Oliver Wakefield as Sir Reginald Foxfield
- Patricia Roc as Hope Ollerton
- Annie Esmond as Lady Foxfield
- Marian Spencer as Lady Shepshod
- Olive Sloane as Daisy Barley
- Maire O'Neill as Mrs Mitterley
- Gus McNaughton as Ketley
- Charles Hawtrey as Young Orton
- Peter Gawthorne as Major Shiptonthorpe
- Aubrey Mallalieu as Commander Spofforth
- G. H. Mulcaster as Inspector
- Wally Patch as Sam
- Horace Kenney as Walter Shepton
- Morris Harvey as Jim Flagg
- Ida Barr as Katie
- Spencer Trevor as Colonel Hazelhead
- Robert Atkins as Hassock
- Diana Beaumont as Secretary
- Syd Crossley as Uncle Alfred
- A. Bromley Davenport as Agent
- Charles Doe as Mayor
- Alexander Field as Packles Junior
- Ian Fleming as United Plastics barrister
- Richard George as Tom Largs
- Leopold Glasspoole as Pelham
- Michael Martin Harvey as Handover
- David Keir as Mr. Finningley
- Henry B. Longhurst
- Eliot Makeham as Town clerk
- George Merritt as Police Sergeant
- Mignon O'Doherty as Dr Buckley
- Stan Paskin as Attendant
- Peter Ustinov as Dr Bentika
Recent critical assessment
Time Out wrote that "John Baxter was the British director probably least patronizing and most sympathetic to the working classes and their culture during the '30s and '40s, and even if his films now often seem naïve and simplistic, it's good at least to see an honest and humorous attempt to deal with life outside Mayfair. Less scathing than Love on the Dole (his best known film), this adaptation of a J.B. Priestley novel is a spritely, vaguely Capra-esque comedy... Fred Emney steals the show as a government arbitrator susceptible to the charms of alcohol."[1]
References
- ^ a b "Let the People Sing, directed by John Baxter - Film review".
- ^ "Let the People Sing (1942)". Archived from the original on 13 January 2009.
- ^ Gifford, Denis (1 April 2016). British Film Catalogue: Two Volume Set - The Fiction Film/The Non-Fiction Film. Routledge. ISBN 9781317740636 – via Google Books.
Bibliography
- Murphy, Robert. Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain, 1939-48. Routledge, 1992.
External links
 | This article related to a British comedy film of the 1940s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- 1942 films
- 1942 comedy films
- 1940s English-language films
- Films directed by John Baxter
- British comedy films
- Films set in England
- Films shot at British National Studios
- Films based on British novels
- British black-and-white films
- 1940s British films
- English-language comedy films
- Films scored by Kennedy Russell
- 1940s British comedy film stubs